Intermezzo

intermezzo--a usually brief musical interlude or diversion.

coda--the concluding passage of a piece or movement, typically forming an addition to the basic structure.

I enjoy music. I used to enjoy making music as a church and school music director, and as a vocalist. Those days are behind me. So now I enjoy listening to music.  I listen to a wide variety of music including Classical, choral music, Christian music and popular music, especially from the  60s and 70s (my formative  years). At home I use Spotify as my medium.  Besides the many playlists I have created, I make good use of the search box to find any song or composer I care to listen to. I employ the Spotify "radio stations" as well. Spotify is a wellspring of unending musical pleasure. On the road I listen to Sirius/XM radio. The ability to drive across the country (hypothetically) while listening to the same station is quite phenomenal. The only time I lose the signal is while driving slowly under an overpass or through a tunnel. Other than that, XM plays an uninterrupted stream of my favorite music.

Listening to music as often as I do, I have come to notice things about certain types of music and certain songs. Most popular music lasts about three to three and a half minutes. Some songs, however, last much longer. Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven, for example, lasts over eight minutes. The Eagle's Hotel California lasts nearly seven minutes.  The Beatles' Hey Jude lasts over seven minutes. There is something else that Hotel California and Hey Jude share in common. They each have an extended  coda.  Listening to my favorite songs over the years, I've noticed that I tend to tune out the interludes while waiting for the song (the vocals) to start again.  And then it gradually got in my head that the introduction, interludes and codas are just as important as the vocals. But I noticed something else. In Hotel California as soon as Don Henley finishes the line, "You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave", the guitar solo starts. To my ear it sounds like an intermezzo, an interlude. Musically, it sounds like the vocals are "to be continued".But then I realized the song ends with that guitar solo. As soon as that solo begins, the vocals are done.  That two minute guitar coda has been named as the best guitar solo in all of music. It's not just tacked on to fill time; it's important music.  And then listening to Hey Jude for the nth time I thought "that 'nah nah nah nah, hey Jude' part goes on a long time". So I timed it.  It goes on nearly four minutes. Four minutes!  Most popular songs don't last four minutes. The Beatles must have thought it was important. And they were right.

In our lives we tend to think that some parts of the day are better than others, are more important than others. During some parts of the day we are marking time until we can get on with the things that really matter. There's nothing wrong with feeling that way. No doubt, most of us treasure the time with family and friends over time we spend on the clock.  On the other hand, unless we're fully retired or independently wealthy, even if we don't particularly enjoy our job,  that time on the clock is, at least, a means to an end. It facilitates that time with those special people, which makes the time at work just as important as the time at home. Another thing, how many more office shootings will it take for us to realize that we don't have any control over when and where we will draw our last breath. That coffee break may end up being that long "coda" of life after death. When we walked away from our desk, we never walked back. It wasn't just a "break" after all;  it was the grand finale!

Maybe you don't listen to as much music intentionally as I do, and maybe you don't want to. But when you find yourself listening at home, at work or in the car, instead of it just being a distraction, tune into the song and you may be surprised what all you find. And if you don't find all you want to know by listening, use Google and Wikipedia like I do. "Nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah nah hey Jude". The end.

The Speed of Music

When I listen to music, I feel like the music is moving toward some unknown destination. I don't mean just that it makes me want to move, I mean that the music itself is moving.  Like you, I read a page left to right and top to bottom. If I'm reading a novel or the daily newspaper, I read left to right and top to bottom.  It's the same with music. I read a sheet of music left to right and top to bottom. Because of that, when I'm listening to music, I'm hearing the music moving left to right from its beginning to end.  If I imagine I'm facing north, then the music is moving west to east.

As I hand the young lady at the desk my key tag at the gym, I chuckle to myself when she says, "I hope you enjoy your workout."  "Workout" to me involves great effort and lots of sweat. I intend to do neither. I spend 40 minutes or so walking on a  treadmill at a brisk pace and then another fifteen minutes lifting and pulling weights. No sweat. I'm "keeping the mass in motion" as my wife puts it. Like many people at the gym,  I listen to music while I "work out." Unlike most people who use the beat of the music to rev them up, my playlists consist of my favorite music.  Some of the songs have a steady beat, but many of them do not. I just enjoy the music while I'm walking and using the gym equipment.

Although I am not looking for some specific beat, or "workout" music, many times I realize that the beat of the music is very close to my pace. When that happens I adjust my speed and my step so that I'm walking in time with the music. A few days ago when this happened, I was walking at 3 mph, or a 20 minute mile. That's when it occurred to me that the music was moving at 3 mph. As the playlist continued song by song, I paid attention to the speed of the music.  I learned that most music that  I listen to moves west to east between 2.5 mph and 4 mph. There are outliers such as "Desperado" on the slow side and "Boys of Summer" on the fast, but they are the exception and not the rule.

I know of no practical use for this information. There is benefit to walking on a treadmill. There is benefit to listening to music you enjoy. There's benefit for doing them simultaneously.  I'm not sure there's any benefit for assigning a speed to that music. A recent study suggests that there is benefit for even 10 minutes of exercise per week. That's good to know. At 3 miles per hour, I don't have to go back to the gym for a month.

I like where we're at.

If you Google "I like where we're at right now", one of the hits is Gus Malzahn, the head coach of the Auburn Tigers football team. Good grammar notwithstanding, there is a world of truth in his words. First of all, the words are a bit redundant.  How can you be "where you're at" (sic) at any other time than "right now"? You are always where you are at a given time.

On the other hand "where you are" is a moving target. Where you sit is moving several hundred thousand, if not millions of miles per hour. Any point on the equator is moving at about 1,000mph on Earth's axis.  The earth is traveling around the sun at about 67,000mph.  Our sun and its solar system is traveling through the Milky Way at around 515,000mph. The Milky Way is revolving around some distant system, etc. through the universe. And where you sit, you don't feel a thing.

But let's get back to earthly matters of location. Here on Earth, relative to the Earth, "where we are" is always "right now."  I get tickled with these huge RVs, these bus sized traveling homes. Here these folks are in a two bedroom luxury home on wheels and they blow past me on the interstate at 80mph. Where are they going in such a hurry if they're already home?  They could pull into any rest area at any time and sleep  for a while or play cards or anything.  Is "there" that much better than "here"?  Why is getting "there" important enough to break the law and endanger motorists to get there?  They need to listen  to Gus and say, "I like where we're at", even if it's on I-75 south headed to Florida.

The thing about Gus Malzahn is that he says "I like where we're at" throughout the season no matter what's happening on the field.  He says it during spring training. He says it at summer camp.. He says it the week leading up to the first game.  Win or lose he says it  after the games.  Can it get any better than liking where you are no matter what's going on around you?  We could all learn from what he's saying.

But it's not football that started all this. It's basketball. For Auburn fans everywhere for their team to reach the Final Four is too exciting to describe. I have watched as many games as possible all season including the SEC Tournament and the NCAA Tournament (the Dance). My heart is still racing and my fingernails are bitten to the nub, but it's been fun. Between games I read articles by Auburn beat writers and national sports figures. They are all surprised and amazed at what Pearl and his Tigers have accomplished. Bruce Pearl said this in a recent interview, "We don't all have to be Bryce Brown, we can't all be Jared Harper, but without Malik Dunbar, we're not  here." When he said, "we're not here" I considered the words of that other coach, "I like where we're at." We are here.

My point is that no matter what, you're always where you are. You may not like where you are, but there you  are anyway.  You can't be anywhere else. The trick then is to move toward where you'd rather be, but meanwhile to be content with where you are. A GPS is an amazing piece of technology. When activated, those tracking satellites know exactly where you are and exactly where you want to be. And then it gives constantly updated directions on how to get there. What's most amazing is that you not  only follow your GPS but the GPS is following you, If you take a wrong turn it simply recalculates and again tells you how to get "there" from  "here".I may never get to where I'd like to go, but "I like where I'm at". And I like "right now." 

The Bible says that "contentment... is great gain."  If you're contented where you are, think long and hard before you go somewhere else.

Just Walk Away...

A good friend of mine suggested that I watch the movie Christopher Robin. So I did. At first I was put off by the talking stuffed animals. But as the movie progressed, they became less stuffed animals and more  living, breathing  creatures. As I listened to their dialogue, I was deeply affected by their opinions and philosophy of life. Pooh told Christopher Robin several times that he was a "bear of small brain," but he had plenty enough brain to offer rich concepts of abundant living.

I didn't write down or memorize these statements or these truths. If I watch the movie again  I'll stop and write down some of the quotes.  Pooh said something though that has stayed with me: "When I want to get somewhere, I walk away from where I've been."

If you're in a soul-numbing, dead end job, just walk away.
If you're addicted to narcotics or alcohol, just walk away.
If you're in a destructive relationship, just walk away.
If you're prone to worry and anxiety, just walk away.
If you're hanging onto anger and resentment, just walk away.
If you're hanging onto guilt and remorse, just walk away.
(add your troubling issue), just walk away.

"Walking away" also involves "walking toward." You may need to stay in your job until you find a new one or are financially able to move on. You may need more education to become qualified for that dream job. You may need to walk toward a counselor who can provide therapy and help. You may need to walk toward a psychiatrist who can prescribe medicine and counsel to guide you through withdrawal and chemical dependence. You may need to find a shelter for battered women to provide temporary protection and relief from physical and emotional harm. You may need to confide in and lean on a friend who can offer love and support as you find your way. You may need to find a church where caring people can help ground you in eternal truths. You may need to walk away from a church that offers easy answers for every problem. Finally, like Pooh, you may need to reach inside yourself and re-discover your center, become reacquainted with yourself, your own priorities, principles, and hopes and dreams.

In one dramatic scene, Christopher Robin woke up, realized that he had overslept and said, "Oh no! It's tomorrow!" to which Pooh replied, "It's usually today." And if a journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step, today is as good a day as any to take it.  Now you have to figure out which way to go. Pooh used Christopher Robin's compass to go north. If you're not quite sure which direction to go, north is as good as any. Better yet, take inventory of your options and choose the one that you think is best. Pooh, "What day is it Christopher Robin?"  "It's today."  "Ah, today. My favorite day."